Device that reads data encoded as dots

ABSTRACT

A system is disclosed for reading data encoded as a series of invisible dots carried on a substrate. The system has a detector that detects the dots on the substrate and outputs a first signal; a decoder interconnected to the detector that decodes the first signal to produce an output signal; and an output device interconnected to the processor that receives the output signal and creates a corresponding human readable output. The dots may be infrared absorbing and the encoding can include Reed-Solomon encoding of the prerecorded audio. The system can include a wand-like arm having a slot through which the photograph is inserted.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/693,226 filed onOct. 20, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,943,830.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a user interface system for recoveringdigital data printed in infra-red ink in a fault tolerant encoded formon a print media using an inkjet printing system. In particular, thedata may be encoded on the same surface as a human readablerepresentation, for example an image which is related to the data whichis encoded thereon.

CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS

Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present inventionare disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by theapplicant or assignee of the present invention simultaneously with thepresent application:

U.S. patent application Ser. Nos.

6,496,654

6,859,225

6,924,835

6,647,369

09/693,317

The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated hereinby reference.

Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present inventionare disclosed in the following co-pending application filed by theapplicant or assignee of the present invention on Jul. 10, 1998:

U.S. Ser. No. 6,476,863

U.S. Ser. No. 6,459,495

The disclosures of this co-pending application are incorporated hereinby reference.

Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present inventionare disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by theapplicant or assignee of the present invention on Jun. 30, 2000:

U.S. Ser. Nos.

6,471,331

6,676,250

6,347,864

6,439,704

6,425,700

6,588,952

The disclosures of these co-pending applications is incorporated hereinby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The applicant has disclosed in pending applications U.S. Ser. Nos.09/113,070 and 09/112,785 cards called Artcards in which the informationis encoded in black ink on a white background on the reverse face of theprinted card, the front surface of the card bearing an image. The datathat may be recorded may be the contents of a book recorded in a digitalmanner with the front face bearing an image equivalent to the dustjacket of the book.

In such prior art, two printheads are required in order tosimultaneously print the image on the front of the card and the digitaldata on the rear of the card. To read the card, the card is passedthrough an optical scanning means and the fault tolerant encoded data isreconstructed and decoded and provided to a user as an audio or visualoutput.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a user interface for reading data encodedin a fault tolerant form in infra-red ink on a surface simultaneouslybearing an image.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus forreading data encoded in a fault tolerant digital form printed ininvisible ink on a surface of a card said surface bearing an imagecomprising:

-   -   a) scanning means for scanning said encoded fault tolerant        digital form of said data on said surface in the infra-red;    -   b) means for processing said scanned data and for decoding said        data into a secondary digital format;    -   c) means for outputting said data in said secondary digital        format to an output device with which said secondary digital        format is usable;    -   d) said output device presenting said data in a human readable        form.

Preferably the invisible ink may be an infra-red (IR) absorbing ink withnegligible absorption in the visible spectrum.

Preferably, the data is encoded on the card using a Reed-Solomonencoding process after compression of the data. This allows recovery ofthe data notwithstanding up to 30% damage to the print media upon whichthe data is recorded (image encoded form). The card for example may be astandard card as disclosed in co-pending applications lodged hereto U.S.Ser. Nos. 09/693,471, 09/693,083 and 09/693,134 of the size of aphotograph of approximately 4″×6″ (102 mm×152 mm). It is alsocontemplated that other formats are also possible for the card forexample of the same width but shorter or longer depending upon theamount of data which is recorded or to be recorded on the print media.

In another aspect, the invention provides a device for reading dataencoded as an array of dots carried on a substrate, the array beingsubstantially invisible to an average unaided human eye, the devicecomprising:

-   -   a detector that detects the array of dots and outputs a first        signal representative thereof;    -   a decoder interconnected to said detector that receives and        decodes said first signal to produce a second signal        corresponding to the first signal; and    -   an output device interconnected to said decoder that receives        said second signal and creates a human readable output        corresponding to the second signal.

The detector may detect the array of dots optically.

The dots may be dots of ink and the ink may be an infra-red (IR)absorbing ink with little absorption in the visible spectrum.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a method of creating a human readable output from an array ofdots carried by a substrate, the array encoding data and beingsubstantially invisible to an average unaided human eye, said methodcomprising the steps of:

-   -   (a) detecting the array on the substrate and outputting a first        signal corresponding thereto;    -   (b) decoding said first signal and outputting a second signal    -   (c) receiving the second signal in an output device and        generating a human readable output corresponding to the second        signal.

The array of dots may be detected optically and may be detected using atleast the infrared spectrum. The dots may be provided using an infraredabsorbing ink with little absorption in the visible spectrum.

The substrate may also carry an image, a substrate carrying an image andincluding an array being substantially identical, to an average unaidedhuman eye, to the same substrate and image not including an array.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Notwithstanding any other form which may fall within the scale of thepresent invention, preferred forms of the invention will now bedescribed by way of example only with reference to the accompanyingdrawing of FIG. 1 which illustrates the card reading arrangement of thepreferred embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED AND OTHER EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiment is preferably implemented through suitableprogramming of a hand held device such as that described in theapplicant's applications U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/693,471, 09/693,083 and09/693,134 filed concurrently herewith by the present applicant thecontent of which is hereby specifically incorporated by reference. Theseapplications make reference to the applicant's prior applications U.S.Ser. Nos. 09/113,070 and 09/112,785.

The aforementioned patent specifications disclose an apparatus includinga camera system, hereinafter known as an “Artcam” type camera system,wherein sensed images can be directly printed out by the camera unitusing an inkjet pagewidth printhead having at least four separate inkjetnozzles for printing a color image and an infra-red image simultaneouslyon a print media. A pagewidth printhead of this type was described bythe applicant in co-pending applications U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/608,308,09/608,779, 09/607,987, 09/608,776, 09/607,250, and 09/607,991 and thedescriptions thereof are hereby specifically incorporated by reference.

In the above referenced patent specifications, namely U.S. Ser. Nos.09/693,471, 09/693,083 and 09/693,134, data in a fault tolerant encodedform is printed in infrared ink over a color image. The data which wasdescribed in each of these specifications related respectively tostoring a fault tolerant encoded digital form of the image itself, afault tolerant encoded digital form of the image itself along with animage processing program script which enabled the image to be processedto produce a given effect thereon, and a copy of the image itself and ofa transformed copy of that image, the transformation being achieved by aprogram which could be separately loaded into the camera system.

In the present application, the invention resides in recording digitaldata on an image, the digital data relating to other than the imageitself or any manipulation thereof. For example, as described in theapplicant's prior art of U.S. Ser. No. 09/113,070 a card may be printedusing a fault tolerant digitally encoded form comprising a book on onesurface of a print media while on the other face of the print media animage is recorded, for example in this case the dust jacket of the book.The cards that were described were of the size of a credit card ofapproximately 85 mm×55 mm size. The card was printed on both faces. Inthe present invention the card needs only to be printed on one face withthe data being recorded in infra red ink and thus invisible to a humanreader. As described in the applicant's co-pending applications U.S.Ser. Nos. 09/693,471, 09/693,083 and 09/693,134, a card of approximatesize 4″×6″ (102 mm×152 mm) can contain approximately 3-4 megabytes ofdata depending on how the data is encoded and distributed across thesurface of the card. The data in those applications is distributed insuch a way that full recovery of the data there encoded, namely animage, can be recovered even if up to 30% damage has occurred to thesurface of the card. To store an average page of text requiresapproximately 2 Kbytes of digital data for text only, hence 3 megabytesof data would record approximately 1.5 thousand pages of written text.An average book contains between 250-550 pages and such a book isreadily accommodated by the format of the present disclosure. Inaddition, images may be interspersed with the text as thumbnail (reducedsized) images in a suitable file format for example jpeg, gif, tiff, bmpto name a few.

The preferred embodiment provides an adaptation of the particulartechnology as disclosed in the aforementioned patent specifications U.S.Ser. Nos. 09/693,471, 09/693,083 and 09/693,134. In this adaptation, thecamera system and the printing system is dispensed with and replacedwith a large screen reader. The cards according to the preferredembodiment are then provided having an indicator of the informationwhich is recorded on the card. The information in a fault tolerantencoded form is printed in infrared ink over that indicator. For examplethe card could include a book's content or a newspaper content. Anexample of such a system is as illustrated in FIG. 1 wherein the card 10includes a book title on the card with data printed thereon in infra-redink as shown by arrow 11. The card 10 is inserted in the reader 12 whichincludes a flexible display 13 which allows for the folding up of thecard reader 12. The card reader includes display controls 14 which allowfor paging forward and back and other controls of the card reader 12.

It can therefore be seen that the arrangement of FIG. 1 provides for anefficient distribution of information in the form of books, newspapers,magazines, technical manuals, and so forth.

Various inkjet technologies can be used for printing of the cardaccording to the current disclosure, for example an inkjet pagewidthprinthead such as disclosed in the applicant's co-pending applicationsU.S. Ser. Nos. 09/608,308, 09/608,779, 09/607,987, 09/608,776,09/607,250, and 09/607,991 may be used. Suitable infra-red ink isdisclosed in the applicant's co-pending applications, Australianprovisional patent applications PQ9412 and PQ9376 filed on 14 Aug. 2000and applicant's applications PQ9509 filed on 18 Aug. 2000, and PQ9571,and PQ9561 filed on 21 Aug. 2000. Data may be encoded in a manner orusing a format as disclosed in applicant's U.S. Ser. Nos. 09/113,070 and09/112,785, or 09/693,471, 09/693,083 and 09/693,134, for example theArtcard format or the alternative Artcard format. Other formats may beused.

It would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that numerousvariations and/or modifications may be made to the present invention asshown in the specific embodiment without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention as broadly described. The present invention is,therefore, to be considered in all respects to be illustrative and notrestrictive.

1. A device for reading book data, the device comprising: a housingincluding first and second housing sections connected by a hinge; aflexible display positioned in the housing to extend from the firsthousing section to the second housing section over the hinge so as to beof approximately equal width to the housing, the flexible displayconfigured to flexibly fold about the hinge; a slot for receiving a cardhaving visible content printed thereon, the card further having the bookdata encoded on the surface of the card as an array of dots, the arrayof dots being printed on the surface in ink substantially invisible toan average unaided human eye and being printed on the surfaceindependently of the visible content printed on the surface; a detectorfor optically detecting the array of dots across the surface of the cardreceived in the slot and for outputting a first signal representativethereof; a decoder interconnected to said detector for receiving anddecoding said first signal to produce a display signal corresponding tothe first signal; wherein the display signal causes text or imagescorresponding to the book data to be displayed on said flexible display.2. A device according to claim 1 further comprising display controlswhich allow for paging forward and back.
 3. The device of claim 1wherein the dots are dots of ink.
 4. The device of claim 3 wherein theink is infrared absorbing ink with little absorption in the visiblespectrum.
 5. The device of claim 1 wherein said data is encoded usingReed-Solomon encoding.